Access: From the southwest end of Nederland, turn right off Colo. 72 onto County Road 130 and continue past the town of Eldora to the Hessie junction. Take the right branch for another four miles to Buckingham Campground. At the campground, take the right fork up to the parking lot at the Fourth of July Trailhead.

Scarlet paintbrush and blue columbine line the path at mid-elevations. Yellow monkey flowers and purple monkshood mass along creek crossings; blue chiming bells shade into pink; and alpine wildflowers usually carpet the tundra.

No wonder the Arapaho Pass Trail is an annual pilgrimage for wildflower aficionados in July.

Because of record-breaking heat and drought this year, the spectacle is less breathtaking than usual, and the blooming season for many flowers, such as glacier lilies, peaked early. Nevertheless, the Arapaho Pass Trail offers many reasons for rejoicing.

The trail starts in the spruce/fir forest at the Fourth of July Trailhead in Arapaho National Forest. After fording several small streams, you boulder-hop across a larger creek. Last year this creek was so tumultuous that it turned us back, but this year it will barely wet your boots.

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The Diamond Lake Trail branches to the left in 1.2 miles and leads another 1.4 miles to an alpine lake nestled below sheer cliffs. The Arapaho Pass Trail continues up, makes a switchback and opens out into flower gardens.

When you reach the site of the Fourth of July Mine, the trail to Arapaho Glacier and to South Arapaho Peak veers to the right. C.C. Alvord discovered silver here in 1875 and established the mine. The mine -- in the midst of globeflowers and marsh marigolds -- is a good lunch spot or a turn-around spot if you feel the altitude.

Pikas will greet you as you approach Arapaho Pass. (Photo by Glenn Cushman)

We sometimes see white-tailed ptarmigan foraging at this elevation and always hear the songs of white-crowned sparrows and spiraling pipits. Rosy paintbrush should be blooming by now in the basin below the mine.

The trail to the pass follows the route of an old wagon road and is quite stony. Early in the season, the trail crosses several snowfields with views down into mountain tarns. Pikas and marmots usually squeak and whistle along this section, and Parnassian butterflies nectar from stonecrop.

At the pass, you can admire the surrounding peaks, look down to Caribou Lake and Coyote Park or seek shelter from the wind behind prehistoric hunting blinds. If you feel like climbing another half-mile, continue up to Dorothy Lake, one of the deepest, coldest and most beautiful lakes in the region.

The late archaeologist Jim Benedict identified several hunting blinds and game-drive walls near the pass. He said the basin around the mine was one of the largest Paleo-Indian hunting camps on the Front Range and that Arapaho Pass was the only important prehistoric travel route across the Continental Divide between Devils Thumb Pass and Buchanan Pass.

A wagon road crossed what one early writer called "the savage rim of Arapahoe Pass" late in the 1800s. In the 1960s, a toll road was proposed over the pass and --thankfully -- defeated.

From 1938 to 1974, the Boulder Chamber of Commerce sponsored an annual August hike to Arapaho Glacier. Forty-eight people made the hike in 1938, growing to 600 in 1974. Too many people and heavy environmental damage brought these mega-hikes to an end.

Because this is such a popular trail, it's best to go very early on a weekday to avoid the crowds. Thunderstorms can be severe, so it's important to be off the mountain before lightning strikes.

In winter, the road from Eldora up to Buckingham Campground makes a gentle and lovely ski tour.

Ruth Carol and Glenn Cushman are the authors of "Boulder Hiking Trails," published by Pruett Publishing Co., pruettpublishing.com.